Stop-Motion Videos

Here's a stop-motion video I found--something a little different and very cool.



Check out blublu.org for some great examples of stop-motion video. Here is one example:



Now try it for yourself--you just need a digital camera and a program to put the photos together on a computer (the free movie software that comes with your computer works just fine!).

Fall Schedule is up & running!

It's time to check out the fall 2009 schedule of classes, workshops, and events! Visit the SACC website for all the info you could ever need for the upcoming semester including hours, registration info, membership fees, and more. If you have any questions or want to register for a class or workshop, give us a call at 414.229.5535.

August Already?

The school year is creeping up on us fast and this thought has motivated me to cram as much as I can into this last month of relaxing summer. I checked out Milwaukee Magazine's list of events online to find some local shows and see what's going on in the art community. They actually have a pretty solid list and I found some interesting events, so be sure to check it out.

On another note, artist Faythe Levine, director and co-author of Handmade Nation, (she gave a talk last semester at UWM) is keeping busy and has a blog you can follow to keep up to date. A showing of her film Handmade Nation will be held on Aug. 28th at the Milwaukee Art Museum from 6:30-9:30. Tickets are $5 in advance, $10 at the door, or free for members.

Also, the SACC fall schedule has been finalized--to get a sneak peek at what's to come, check out the calendar. Registration for events starts Aug. 24th, so take a look and scope out what we have to offer. The website should be updated soon enough and I'll be sure to let you know.

Summer Gallery Night and Day - July 24 and 25, 2009

Information found here.

"Presented by the East Town and Historic Third Ward associations, the 22-year-old Gallery Night and Day is the premier art event in Milwaukee for both the experienced art connoisseur and most beginning admirer. An evening of gallery hopping and art viewing begins Friday, July 24 and continues during the day on Saturday, July 25. This July, the quarterly event showcases 59 venues throughout the downtown Milwaukee area. Admission is free to all venues during hours listed below.

Once again ArtSpin, Milwaukee’s collaborative arts marketing group, presents your chance to win free tickets to local performing arts groups. Just visit one of the prestigious MADA galleries between 5pm Friday, July 24 and 3pm Saturday, July 25 during Gallery Night and Day. Then look for the glass vase, fill out an entry form and drop it in. Winners will be pulled from each vase and tickets mailed to the lucky winners. Win tickets to Charles Allis Museum/Villa Terrace, Danceworks, Discovery World, First Stage Children’s Theater, Florentine Opera Company, In Tandem, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee Ballet, Marcus Center, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Next Act Theatre, Renaissance Theatreworks, Pabst Theater, The Skylight, UWM Peck School of the Arts, or Wild Space.

Spanning Friday evening and Saturday during the day, Gallery Night and Day features free parking in the Historic Third Ward parking structures located at 212 N. Milwaukee St. and 225 E. Chicago St. Ride the Friday Gallery Night Xpress FREE! Enjoy a five-stop route which will take you from the Third Ward to East Town and back. The 20-passenger bus makes a continuous loop from 5pm to 9pm with stops approximately every 15 minutes."

For a printable map and list of galleries, click here.

Art in Hayward

I took a camping trip this last weekend near the town of Hayward and found an awesome local art shop/gallery--if you're up there for some reason, make sure you check it out. Local artists sell their work and there is a huge variety of media anywhere from pottery and glass to photography and everything in between. Check their website for more info and examples of work. I took a few photos of my own on a camera phone to be sneaky (some are even through the store window), so not great photos, but you can tell the work is pretty great.

More Summer Ideas

I found a few more fun summer projects on ReadyMade.com and thought I'd share them with everyone. These bird feeders sound pretty easy to make and look really trendy.
This next idea doesn't have the greatest picture, but the idea is fun:
Build your own backyard salad bar, by Jon Traunfeld

Inspired by plans developed at the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension, this easy-to-build salad table was designed to be a living-and-learning tool for schools, prisons, senior centers, and low-income neighborhoods. It’s also a fun project for a group of friends to build, plant, and harvest together. Salad days are here to stay!

Check out the new SACC calendar!

Here is the link to the calendar.

Art Venues & Galleries in Milwaukee County & WI

Posted below is a map I found on JSOnline, on Mary Louise Schumacher's blog 'Art City', of local Milwaukee galleries. You can also check out galleries in the rest of WI here.

Juried show in Racine

Here is a juried show I found on craigslist I thought I'd share with everyone (can be sketchy, but other times it's a great resource!):

The Artists of Mitchell Wagon Factory Lofts are sponsoring their first juried show - "Home is Where the Art Is"! The show runs from July 17 through the 24 and is open to all medium. July 12th is the deadline! Very low entry fee! For a prospectus and entry form please email us at artistsofmwfl@gmail.com or visit the lofts at 815 8th Street, Racine, WI.

Masterpieces of American Photography from George Eastman House Collections

I encourage you all to check out this show at the Paine Art Center in Oshkosh! I went a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Here is the info found on the gallery website:

The largest exhibition of masterpieces of American photography ever presented in Wisconsin, Seeing Ourselves features over a hundred iconic images from the internationally acclaimed George Eastman House Collections of Rochester, New York. This extraordinary exhibition dramatically illustrates our country’s landscape, people, culture, and historic events through works ranging from vast western scenes to fascinating documentary photographs to intimate celebrity portraits. Artists represented include such masters of the medium as Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, and dozens of other accomplished photographers.

Spanning more than 150 years of photography, Seeing Ourselves is organized according to five broad themes: American Masterpieces, American Faces, America at War, America the Beautiful, and American Families. Each section features renowned photographs documenting the American experience. The exhibition begins with “American Masterpieces,” which sheds light on celebrated images like Yosemite Valley, Summer by Ansel Adams, Nautilus by Edward Weston, and The Steerage by Alfred Stieglitz. Other highlights include Oshkosh native Lewis Hine’s Powerhouse Mechanic, a dynamic image symbolizing the arrival of a new Industrial Age, and Dorothea Lange’s unforgettable photograph Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, which gave a human face to poverty and suffering during the Great Depression.

“American Faces” illustrates the diversity of our nation, including subjects ranging from Native Americans whose ancestors have lived here for thousands of years to immigrants at Ellis Island who had just arrived in America that day. Photographs of everyday people are juxtaposed with portraits of illustrious political and civil rights leaders, artists, celebrities, and athletes, including Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Marilyn Monroe, Babe Ruth, and many other familiar faces. Master photographers who portrayed these individuals include Mathew Brady, Edward S. Curtis, Walker Evans, Richard Avedon, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Steichen.

Some of the most famous, memorable, and shocking images in the history of American photography are photographs of war. While photographs of war may be difficult to look at, they serve as an important record of America’s past. “America at War” displays images from the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, as well as contemporary photographs created in response to 9/11.

“America the Beautiful” features timeless photographs that capture the beauty and power of unspoiled nature, as well as scenes of westward expansion, urban America, and the intimate spaces we call home. Dramatic images of Alaskan glaciers, majestic western views, and tranquil dunes are contrasted with big-city skyscrapers, small-town neighborhoods, and backyard gardens. Major works in this section include Alvin Langdon Coburn’s beautifully atmospheric view of New York’s Singer Building and landscapes by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston.

The final section, “American Families,” brings together families from all walks of life, exploring their differences and commonalities. A variety of examples by such notable photographers as Weegee, Lewis Hine, Aaron Siskind, Margaret Bourke-White, and Mary Ellen Mark are included. Some works portray idealized scenes of American life, while others capture a glimpse of everyday life and the serious challenges many families face, such as poverty or illness. Highlights include Hine’s photograph of an Italian family seeking lost luggage at Ellis Island and a tender portrait of a mother and son from the series Black in America by Eli Reed, an award-winning member of Magnum, the prestigious photojournalists’ cooperative.

Seeing Ourselves: Masterpieces of American Photography from George Eastman House Collections is organized by George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film and is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the American Masterpieces program. George Eastman House is the world’s oldest photography museum, founded in 1947 on the estate of Kodak founder George Eastman, the father of popular photography. The museum has unparalleled collections of 400,000 photographs from 14,000 photographers dating from the beginnings of the medium to the present day.

In conjunction with Seeing Ourselves, the Paine’s upstairs Gothic Gallery showcases vintage cameras from the past century. Several cameras exemplify the types of equipment used by some of the master photographers featured in the Main Gallery exhibition.

Art Mail: Milwaukee

Interested in learning about other Wisconsin artists? Sign up for "Art Mail"--sign up and receive samples of art from the area every week in your inbox. I just recently subscribed and have already discovered a lot of work that I love. Here is an example from one of the emails I recently received:

Jason Rohlf :: Bio

New York based artist, Jason Rohlf is known for his densely worked surfaces. His abstract, geometric paintings are very musical in their play with rhythmic patterns. His popular bird series exhibits a more serene side where collaged figures perch quietly on gnarly, exotic branches. The artist's surface work is distinguished in its enigmatic ability to give the allusion of time worn treasures. Elements of collage and drawing are embedded in layers of varnish, obscuring lines and shapes that whisper secrets of their past lives. Click here to read what the press says about Jason's work.

"Curious and reluctant are two of the many words I enjoy using to describe my work. They list underneath others like precarious, delicate, abashed, and recessive. These words have all been lent to the pieces over the years. I couldn't pinpoint where words like hesitant and looking outward overlap, but they do. It is my hope that this body of work continues to gather words that vary as much as the experiences gained in creating each painting." - Jason Rohlf

Rohlf's featured exhibition, Errant Compass, can be seen at the Tory Folliard Gallery from June 5th to July 11th with an opening reception for the artist Friday, June 5 from 5-7:30 pm.

Summer Ideas

Looks like it's finally officially summer now that we've gotten a few 90+ degree days! Hitting the beach is great, but sunburn, not so much--so if you're looking for somewhere to cool off and give your body a break from the sun, stop in the SACC! Work on some summer projects--just because it's summer doesn't mean there aren't plenty of opportunities for artists out there! Don't forget about the classes and workshops, too.

MARN (Milwaukee Artists Resource Network) has a constant stream of postings for artists on it's Yahoo group page including opportunities for you and galleries in the area. Check out the Riverwest Artists Association's (re)cycle (re)visit: an exhibition of found objects and ephemera. The show is held a the Jazz Gallery from June 20-July 11 and the gallery is open Thursdays from 5-8pm and Saturdays from 12-5pm.

Check out this website for artist opportunities around the country--some of the competitions look pretty fun!

Here are a couple good books I recently discovered:

The Art of Promotion by Lisa Cyr
This is actually a book for designers--it gives ideas/examples and how-to instructions on how to create a 'leave behind' for interviews, etc. to set yourself apart from other interviewees. I think it has great ideas for all artists and it's a really cool book!

Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens
Great book if you're interested in printing!

Polaroid Transfers: A Complete Visual Guide to Creating Image and Emulsion Transfers
You'd be amazed at the things you can do with Polaroids.

Stencil 101: Make Your Mark with 25 Reusable Stencils and Step-by-Step Instructions

Lotta Prints: How to Print Anything, from Potatoes to Linoleum

There are just a few ideas & suggestions to keep you motivated this summer! If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment!

SACC is open for the summer!

The SACC will be open for the summer beginning June 1st! Check out our summer hours, classes, workshops, and more in our profile, or check out our website. We also have a facebook page--search for the UWM Studio Arts & Craft Centre and be a fan (or click on the link to the right).

Students returning in fall 2009 have a free membership throughout the summer, so put it to good use. We also welcome staff, faculty, alumni, and community members.

See you around!

Open for the spring semester!

The UWM Studio Arts & Craft Centre is open for the spring semester with extended hours, more classes & workshops, new staff members, and more!

UWM students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members are always welcome here at the Craft Centre, so stop in and sign up for your membership today to get the most of the semester.  As always, UWM full-time students have a free membership.  Daily memberships are also available.  Not sure what we’re all about?  Come on in and ask the clerk for a tour!

Beginning this semester, the Craft Centre is now open at 11:00 am every day of the week for your convenience and open until 10:00 pm Monday through Thursday, 5:00 pm Friday through Sunday.

Check out our new book-making workshop series, DIY fashion workshop series, and more classes & workshops in photography, ceramics, fibers, drawing, and jewelry & metalsmithing.  Take a look at the schedule of classes & workshops posted below and register today to save yourself a spot.